As CIO of MacKenzie Financial in the ’90s, and later at CIBC, Steve Pozgaj says the two things that frustrated him most was the lack of integration between the many systems in IT and the poor quality of information about the customer. Since going out on his own in 2002, he consults extensively in software for financial services that “unifies it all.”

Pozgaj says the same problem exists in all industries, especially insurance, where he is setting his sights now. “It’s a real dog’s breakfast in terms of IT,” he says. The goal is to have software that unites the back-end with the distribution channel with the agent, and of course, a single view of the customer as well.